Photographic-printing device.



S. D. BUTCHER. PHOTOGRAPHIG PRINTING DEVICE,

APPLICATION FILED DEO.14, 1908 Patented July 19, 1910.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

THE NORRIS Pan-Rs cc., wnswmamn, u. c.

S. D. BUTCHER.

PHOTOGRAPHIG PRINTING DEVICE.

APPLIOATION FILED 1120.14, 1908.

Patented July 19, 1910.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

SOLOMON D. BUTCHER, OF KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI.

PHOTOGRAPI-IIC-PRINTING DEVICE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented J nly 19, 1910.

Application filed December 14, 1908. Serial No. 467,455.

To all whom "it may concern:

Be it known that I, SoLoMoN D. BUTCHER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Kansas City, in the county of Jackson and State of Missouri, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Photographic- Printing Devices; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to photographic printing devices especially adapted for printing post-cards and pictures taken by amateurs.

It has for its objects, among others, to increase the rapidity with which the printing may be done with exactness and without the necessity of employing skilled operators, to reduce the cost of the machine so that amateurs and small dealers can afiord to have them, to simplify the construction so that there will be no parts to wear out or become misplaced, and to provide for regulating the exposures whereby the dense parts of negatives may be exposed longer than the more transparent parts which is very important, especially in amateurs work in which the foreground is usually more strongly lighted than the skies and foliage.

Experienced printers have often spent wearisome hours in printing views with thin skies and foliage, almost clear glass, and overexposed foregrounds, by holding the frame in the sunlight and shading the thinner parts of the negative with a piece of card board.

My invention consists in effecting the exposures by means of a sliding shutter which may be operated by hand or foot power and which moves upward to open and downward to close.

The invention consists further in the use of a hinged door in the back of the printing frame with a reduced opening for inserting the printing paper *hile the negative is fastened in the printing frame in the usual manner beneath the back thereof.

The invention also consists in the features of construction and combinations of devices hereinafter described and specified in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, illustrating the preferred embodiment of my invention; Figure l is a rear elevation of the parts of the device assembled, the shutter being closed and the door in the back being open as when a piece of printing paper is being introduced or taken out. Fig. 2 is a similar view showing the door shut and the shutter raised or open as when an exposure is being made. Fig. 3 is afront elevation of the parts as shown in Fig. 2 and particularly illustrating the springs for closing the shutter. Fig. 4: is a sectional view on the line of Fig. 1 showing more particularly the automatic latch for the door in the back, and Fig. 5 is a section of the printing frame taken in the line g g of Fig. 2.

In carrying out my invention, I mount the dark shutter l to slide vertically in suitable grooves in the frame 2. Said shutter is op erated by a lever 8 pivoted on the upper part of the frame and connected to the shutter by a link 4. The free end of the lever is connected to a cord or chain 5 which may be attached to a treadle (not shown) if preferred. It will be understood, of course, that the lever may be operated by hand instead of foot power if desired. The shutter is normally held down in a closed position by springs l arranged on the front of the frame.

The printing frame 7 is secured to the shutter frame in any suitable manner as by the retaining strip 8 at the lower part of said shutter frame. Said printing frame is provided with a removable back 9 which is preferably hinged at the bottom and secured by spring catches 10. A door 11 is formed in said back and is adapted to cover the restricted opening 12 into which the printing paper is introduced. The door is provided with a raised platform 13 fitting the open ing 12 and serving to hold the printing paper against the negative which is placed b tween the glass plate 14 in the front of the printing frame and an interchangeable mat, 14 arranged below the hinged. back.

The door or closure 11 is hinged at its lower edge so that it will swing outward toward the operator. It is secured in a closed posit-ion by a spring catch 15 which engages an automatic releasing device com prising an angular spring pressed keeper 15 pivoted on the hinged back, a pivoted spring pressed member 15 on the upper edge of the printing frame, and a trip 16 on the upper edge of the shutter adapted to engage a projection 15 on the member 15 when the shutter is lowered or closed, with the result that the keeper 15 will be disengaged from the catch 15 permitting the door to open. A coiled spring 17 on the hinge of the door serves to throw the latter open as soon as released. A plate spring 18 placed at the edge of the opening in the back is adapted to discharge the printing paper from said opening when the door opens thereby saving the time which the operator would otherwise have to spend in picking the paper out with the finger nail.

In operation, the frame containing the shutter and having the printing frame attached thereto is placed against a window or, if the printing is to be done at night, a light is placed in front of said frame. he negative is positioned in the printing frame so that the portion thereof to be printed from is properly centered in the opening in the mat. It will be understood that an assortment of mats having various sizes of openings therein will be kept on hand so that difierent sizes of pictures may be printed with my apparatus. When the negative is in place, the printing paper is introduced into the opening in the back after opening the door. hen the shutter is operated by the foot, the operators hands are free to feed the printing paper into the machine. As above explained, the door in the back is automatically unlocked and thrown open each time that the shutter reaches its lower or closed position, and the printing paper is discharged each time the door opens. It is, therefore, only necessary for the operator to put aside the paper just printed, place a fresh piece in the opening and close the door between each exposure.

It is evident that the operator may raise and lower the shutter slowly or rapidly as may suit his purpose and that said shutter may be raised more rapidly through part of its stroke than through the remainder. It is, therefore, possible to easily vary the exposure of diiferent parts of the negative whereby the denser parts thereof may be given a longer exposure and better results be obtained. This is especially advantageous in printing from negatives taken by amateurs which always have very thin skies and foliage but greatly overexposed foregrounds. The fact that the shutter opens from the bottom gives a longer exposure to the lower part of the picture even when said shutter is raised and lowered at a uniform speed.

I claim:

1. The combination, with a frame, a shutter mounted to slide in said frame and means for operating said shutter, of a printing frame secured to said shutter-carrying frame so that the sliding of said shutter will control the exposure of the contents of the printing frame, the latter having a door in its back adapted to close a restricted opening for introducing the printing paper, and means to discharge the printing paper when the door is opened.

2. The combination, with a frame, a shutter mounted to slide in said frame and means for operating said shutter, of a print-ing frame secured to said shutter-carrying frame so that the sliding of said shutter will control the exposure of the contents of the printing frame, a mat having its opening corre sponding to the size of the picture to be printed and arranged in said printing frame, the latter having a door in its back for introducing the printing paper, and a raised platform on said door adapted to extend into the opening in said mat and hold the printing paper against the negative.

3. The combination, with a frame, a shutter mounted to slide in said frame and means for operating said shutter, of a printing frame secured to said shutter-carrying frame so that the sliding of said shutter will control the exposure of the contents of the printing frame, the latter having a door in its back for introducing the printing paper, a catch on said door, and an automatic releasing device for said catch comprising a spring pressed pivoted keeper, normally engaging said catch, atrip on said shutter, and

means adapted to be struck by said trip when the shutter is closed and when so struck to move said keeper out of engagement with said catch whereby said door is released.

4. The combination, wit-h a frame, a shutter mounted to slide in said frame and means for operating said shutter, of a printing frame secured to said shutter-carrying frame so that the sliding of said shutter will con trol the exposure of the contents of the printing frame, the latter having a door in its back for introducing the printing paper, a catch on said door, and an automatic releasing device for said catch comprising a spring pressed pivoted keeper, normally engaging said catch, a trip on said shutter, and means adapted to be struck by said trip when the shutter is closed and when so struck to move said keeper out of engagement with said catch whereby said door is released, and spring means for opening the door when released.

5. The combination, with a frame, a shutter mounted to slide in said frame and means for operating said shutter, of a printing frame secured to said shutter-carrying frame so that the sliding of said shutter will control the exposure of the contents of the printing frame, the latter having a door in its back for introducing the printing paper, a catch on said door, and an automatic releasing device for said catch comprising a spring pressed pivoted keeper, normally engaging said catch, a trip on said shutter, and means adapted to be struck by said trip when the shutter is closed and when so struck to move said keeper out of engagement with said catch whereby said door is released, spring means for opening the door when released, and means to discharge the printing paper when the door is opened.

6. The combination, with a frame, a shutter mounted to slide in said frame and means for operating said shutter, of a printing frame secured to said shutter-carrying frame so that the sliding of said shutter will con trol the exposure of the contents of the printing frame, the latter having a door in its back for introducing the printing paper, a catch on said door, and an automatic releasing device for said catch comprising a spring pressed pivoted keeper, normally engaging said catch, a trip on said shutter, and a spring-pressed intermediately pivoted member adapted to be struck on one end by said trip when the shutter is closed, the other end of said member engaging said keeper whereby said catch is released when said trip strikes said member.

7. The combination, with a frame, a shutter mounted to slide in said frame and means for operating said shutter, of a printing frame secured to said shutter-carrying frame so that the sliding of said shutter .will control the exposure of the contents of the printing frame, the latter having a door in its removable back for introducing the printing paper, a catch on said door, a spring-pressed keeper mounted on the back of the printingframe and normally engaging said catch when the door is closed, a spring-pressed member mounted on the printing frame proper and adapted to engage said keeper when the back is in place on said printing frame, and a trip on said shutter adapted to strike said member as it closes whereby said door will be automatically released for the purpose specified.

8. The combination, with a frame, a shutter arranged to slide vertically in said frame and means to raise said shutter, of a printing frame secured to said shutter-carrying frame so that the sliding of the shutter will control the exposure of the contents of the printing frame, the latter having a door in its back for introducing the printing paper, means to automatically throw said door open when the shutter is lowered into closed position, and means to automatically discharge the print-ing paper from the frame when said door is opened.

In testimony whereof, I aflix my signature, in presence of two witnesses.

SOLOMON D. BUTCHER.

\Vitnesses G. M. SHAFER, ED. O. NEUMAN. 

